Quick Start Guide to Finding New Instagram Brand Ambassadors

Instagram now has over 400 million users worldwide and growing — greatly surpassing once-dominant social networking sites like Twitter.

The mobile photo sharing application has become a major part of the social media marketing landscape and is clearly here to stay. Statistics show that 75 million Instagram users post every day — that’s a ton of photos!

Users on Instagram are also some of the most engaged users on social media, 58 times more than Facebook, and 120 times more than Twitter. Meaning that an Instagram user is far more likely to comment, like, or share a piece of content.

If your company is late to the Instagram party and is having trouble gaining traction, a quick way to gain followers is through promotions with brand ambassadors.

Ambassadors are the folks on Instagram who love your brand and are willing to share the great things you’re doing with their large network.

What can a brand ambassador do for you?

A brand ambassador can do a variety of things for you depending on what your marketing is trying to accomplish. In a general sense, an ambassador can…

Widen your reach - Ambassadors in your niche already serve a large audience of people who are interested in the same things. By coordinating with them you’ll be able to reach a much wider range of people who have not yet heard of your product or service.

Humanize your brand - Consumers are able to relate more with a human face than a faceless brand is. Being able to connect a face with a brand allows people to relate more, especially when authenticity comes into question.

Increase your presence online - You’re not able to promote your brand 24/7 around the globe, so having people out there releasing content when you aren’t is invaluable. Ambassadors will be able to give you that extra boost in different time zones, languages, and markets.

Instagram can be a tricky social network to conquer but if that’s where your audience is, then that’s where you need to be. Having ambassadors on your side can help you gain much more momentum on your way to Instagram success.

Do your Homework

Before you start searching for new brand ambassadors you’ll need to do a bit of research first.

You can start by...

Finding out who is serving your ideal audience through your buyer persona and make a list of top influencers in your niche. Be sure to note their blog address, unique selling point, and posting frequency to help when you reach out to them.

Creating affiliate codes that your ambassadors can use when promoting your product. If you are an online retailer then an affiliate code, attached to a promotion for first time buyers, will tell you how many people an ambassador is sending to your website and making purchases.

Where can you find your brand ambassadors?

Popular blogs - By working with popular industry bloggers in your niche you’ll be able to appeal to a large audience very fast. The key is to create a “win-win” type of agreement between you and the blogger. Honest product features or reviews can be made in exchange for free product or payment.

Past customers - Reach out to previous customers for honest feedback. If your customers were satisfied with their experience they’ll be happy to share it.

Social media followers - Reach out for brand ambassadors on your other social channels. Users that are always tagging you in their photos or mentioning your product will make devout ambassadors.

Contest participants - By using an Instagram hashtag contest you’ll be able to gather a list of people that are active in your industry. Once you’ve run a hashtag contest you’ll be able to look through your list of entrants and see if any would be suitable to be an ambassador.

Now that you have an extensive list of Instagram users you’d like to reach out to, you’ll need to figure out what you’ll offer your ambassadors. Typically brands will offer free products or subscriptions in exchange for reviews or features, affiliate commission, or straight-up cash money.

This is all depending on the audience your ambassador of choice serves. The more social klout they posses the more value they’ll expect from you so it’s important to strike a balance that is beneficial for both sides.

This brings us back to the importance of finding the correct ambassadors - ones that genuinely care about your business and industry. These are the ambassadors you should be seeking - the ones with audiences that value their honest opinion.

Let’s look at an example:

Brands like Adidas and Jagermeister are known to promote their products through popular photographers on Instagram. It allows these brands to curate beautiful content to use on their social profiles as well as advertise to the photographer’s audience at the same time.

Think about the content creators out there that can help you tell your brand’s story. This in turn will help you curate content as well as reach out to a new audience.

Wrapping it Up

Instagram can be a tricky nut to crack, but with the help of established ambassadors you’ll be able to find and grow your audience quickly. Finding honest ambassadors can help you widen your reach, humanize your brand to create trust, and increase your presence online.

If you have any questions about a brand ambassador strategy on Instagram, let me know in the comment section below!